Community Care Cooperative Awarded ACO REACH Contract from CMS, Expands Network to FQHCs in Louisiana

BOSTON & NEW ORLEANS , January 25 /Businesswire/ - Community Care Cooperative (C3), the Accountable Care Organization (ACO) created and governed by Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) in Massachusetts, announced today that it was awarded an ACO REACH contract from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI). ACO REACH is a new value-based care model that is aligned with C3’s commitment to advancing health equity, moderating costs, and improving outcomes for members. C3 currently operates as a Medicaid ACO in Massachusetts on behalf of 23 FQHCs – and believes ACO REACH is an opportunity for the seven FQHCs under the Medicare contract to bring its highly effective model of care to a broader patient population. C3 is just one of 110 accepted applicants in the country for this model.

With today’s news, C3 is also announcing that it has grown nationally and will work with its first FQHC outside of Massachusetts as part of the ACO REACH contract. Access Health Louisiana (AHL) is a FQHC with 32 clinics and school-based health centers located throughout communities in Southeast Louisiana, serving over 47,000 patients annually. With the addition of AHL to its network for ACO REACH, C3 expects to serve over 1,400 Medicare patients in Louisiana and 10,000 Medicare patients in Massachusetts through the program.

C3 unites FQHCs at scale to strengthen primary care, improve financial performance, and advance racial justice. C3 provides FQHCs with the tools and services needed to remain competitive in the ever-changing market landscape of value-based care – including value-based contracting, practice transformation, analytics, population health programs, quality and risk adjustment expertise and services. Federally Qualified Health Centers are an integral part of the health care system, and particularly its safety net. FQHCs have been shown to deliver high quality, patient centered care that reduces total medical expenditures, and C3’s goal is to facilitate their success in the new value-based health care landscape.

“We see ACO REACH as a tremendous opportunity to offer our model of care to Medicare beneficiaries who are disproportionately members of under-resourced and low-income communities and also members of the BIPOC community – and build on the incredible successes we have had in the Massachusetts Medicaid ACO program,” said Christina Severin, CEO of C3. “We applaud CMMI for launching a model that centers health equity and enables FQHCs to meaningfully participate in upside and downside financial risk with Medicare.”

“Our organization is proud to be the first FQHC in Louisiana to be a part of Community Care Cooperative. Like C3, we are committed to advancing health equity and reducing racial and social disparities which contribute to the imbalance of quality health access in our nation. We hope that through our work and partnership, we can further the priorities of the Biden-Harris Administration and enhance patient care coordination through the REACH Model,” said Mark Keiser, President and CEO of Access Health Louisiana.

Community Care Cooperative (C3) is a 501(c)(3) Accountable Care Organization (ACO) that leverages the proven best practices of ACOs throughout the country and is the only ACO in Massachusetts founded and governed by Federally Qualified Health Centers and exclusively focused on advancing integrated and coordinated community-based care for Medicaid and Medicare members. C3 works to strengthen health centers across the state, and continued growth enables C3 to better serve patients that receive care at its health centers across the country. To view a list of C3 health centers, click here.

Follow us on Twitter: @c3aco |

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/communitycarecooperative/

The statements contained in this document are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of CMS. The authors assume responsibility for the accuracy and completeness of the information contained in this document.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230124005386/en/